Tanks and Submarines
by k o u s e n
Summary: ¤ this is it, boys. this is war. » [ slight ROYED ]


**tanks and submarines »  
**( _this is it, boys; this is war._ )

1. **PLATINUM**.

War: a time of death, sadness, power, and new beginnings. Gunshots sounded overhead, bullets flying every way possible. Everyone stayed low to the ground, hidden behind sand bags and helmets and fake emotions. All else was quiet and subdued, most just wanting a break from the world outside.

Roy Mustang sat low to the ground, hands over his face in an attempt to rid his mind of everything for just a little while. His skin seemed to burn as his blood-stained hands touched his face. He pulled them away, knowing good and well there wasn't any blood on them. He stared for a few minutes, then looked up to the sky.

Some of the other state alchemists were trying to take advantage by using hot-air balloons to form an aerial attack. Unfortunately, the balloons were being shot down faster than the state alchemists could defend them. It was nearly dusk, and he was sure he would be up all night, keeping guard from not only their enemies, but from nightmares.

As the sky and all the bullets that were shot at the moment formed into one, he smiled, because platinum was a pretty color, and it seemed that maybe a breakthrough was near. Just maybe they could win this thing.

2. **MERGE**.

A fantasy at this point in time would be too much to think of. Between the safety lock on the gun and your bleeding wound and the bullet flying towards you and when you'll get home, there isn't enough space to keep other thoughts. It's something every soldier realizes a little too late and a little too early and can't ever change. It's a part of life forever and ever until the day you exist only in memory.

State Alchemists were some that knew this best. They didn't have time to think about their family or if they were being missed or how bad the coffee where they were tasted. They only had time to follow orders and execute missions and kill and kill and kill. They had no time for anything else when war was about and they knew best about realizing something too late.

When Roy Mustang aimed the gun and pulled the trigger his very own life flashed before his eyes as the doctors fell to the floor and had their very own lives taken much too early. He stared at a picture of a smiling little girl that had lost her family as he held the gun to his own head. Maybe he'd be able to apologize some other time, because right now he was too busy trying to apologize to himself for alloying his finger to pull that trigger.

He was no longer Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. Now, he was Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, a killer.

3. **SALVATION**.

The war is finally over on the outside, but on the inside, the war continues. He sees faces in his sleep and hears gunshots in the back of his mind. He feels blood on his hands when he poises his fingers in a familiar position, ready to snap and light fire wherever he chooses. He hates it and can't wait until it's over.

One of his saviors has been placed in his unit and he couldn't be happier. He knows her well, along with her father and many memories that he won't soon forget. She seems shy at times and although he already knew how she was, he sees sparks of hope when the light in her eyes turns hard and sturdy, just like the light in his eyes that hides his sins. He can see perfection after a while, and her vow to protect him is showing through.

When he receives a letter about someone he's been searching for, he calls her along and they take a long train ride to a small town on the planes. He meets two young boys that have more courage than he ever did, and he also sees determination like never before. He sees perfection again and now he's getting scared because he's not perfect and it seems everyone else is. So his mask gets a little more detailed and she stands a little straighter and the look in this kid's eyes scares him to death because he has what it takes when he shouldn't.

The kid accepts his invitation and becomes a state alchemist and suddenly he's been saved by two people because the blood isn't noticed on his hands anymore; all eyes are on Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and he couldn't be happier.

4. **REMORSE**.

He might be saved but the war isn't over. There's a war inside and a war outside and every now and then there's a war in his office between him and the kid who saved his life. There's war in his mind and his heart and in the eyes of that child that stands before his desk, ready to save his brother and the whole world. There's war every way you turn and he can't stop it. He can't grasp the answer so he sends to kid out to find it and he does.

_The Philosopher's Stone_ is the answer, he says, as they ride in the car towards the end of the world. It's the cause of war and if only it can be destroyed and forgotten, all will be saved. He says that's what he wants to do so Roy Mustang lets him. He lets him go off and get himself killed and sent away while trying to save the world he failed to.

Maybe the kid will save his world again. He knows this as he holds his hand out and has it slapped in the most friendly gesture he's seen from this kid in the many years he's know him. He feels guilty as he watches Edward Elric run towards his fate, while he runs away from his.

5. **DYNAMITE**.

The war never stops; it keeps going and going and going until nothing is left and all is lost. He's survived this far with only blood on his hands and a scar on his face. There's an earthquake and then flying machines and then there's Edward Elric, his long-lost savior clapping his hands and doing what he's known for. He's there to save the world again, so the least he can do is help. He gets a hot-air balloon similar to the ones many years ago that haunt his memory, and flies to help him. He snaps his fingers and saves Edward Elric for the first time, and is then promptly insulted.

He couldn't have been more thankful for that, so as Edward turned to leave, he held back his sobbing brother so he could save the other worlds; not only his. He could only hope the war would end once and for all now that Edward Elric was in charge of things, so maybe he could forget gunshots and bullets and platinum skies and regret and sins. He hoped he could finally wash the blood off his hands and forget just what monster really lay under the eye patch.

He hoped the fireworks were prettier the next time he saw Edward Elric, because platinum skies weren't enough forever.

-----&

**THE END**.

1. I accidentally put a little bit of royai and royed  
into this. I didn't mean to, but I guess it turned  
out pretty good. I liked it, and since this will  
probably be my last fic for about a week and a  
half (book report I have to do), I guess I should  
post something I like.

2. Reviews are the BEST thing ever; yeah, better  
Than chocolate chip cookies.

3. I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, The song "99 Red Balloons"  
by Nena/Goldfinger (this is it, boys; this is war), and I don't  
own the beetles, who inspired the title with their yellow  
submarine song.


End file.
